


Sometime Around Midnight

by Asilvermoment



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Pre Episode: s02e13 Heir to the Demon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 08:37:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1851571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asilvermoment/pseuds/Asilvermoment
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This summer, I have been listening to some old music and the song "Sometime Around Midnight" (by the Airborne Toxic Event) keeps showing up on my shuffle. Every time I listen to it, my thoughts immediately jump to Nyssa and Sara. So, if you'll indulge me, I have created a one-shot from Nyssa's POV. It takes place after Sara leaves the League to go help her family in Starling. Nyssa is sent out on a mission and sees a blonde woman walk into the bar; she thinks the blonde is Sara and experiences vivid flashbacks (and raw emotions) surrounding their relationship. </p><p>I will organize the prompt by the song lyrics and post the lyrics before each part of Nyssa's story. (My original idea was to have it be from Sara's POV (as a bartender in Starling), meeting Nyssa before the Gambit incident... so if anyone is interested in that POV, let me know and I'll put it together.)</p><p>This song is so incredible and gets me every time I listen to it--the story will be much more powerful after taking a listen! Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYPoMjR6-Ao  </p><p>Enjoy and please leave feedback!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometime Around Midnight

_"And it starts_  
 _Sometime around midnight_  
 _Or at least that's when you lose yourself_  
 _For a minute or two"_

Nyssa strode into the bar with Shamran trailing close behind her. He paid the valet on the street corner, tucking a big bill into the driver's breast pocket and patting it. "Thanks chap," he said with a fake English accent, pretending to have already had a good amount to drink that night. Nyssa noticed that the time was quickly approaching midnight. She stepped into the half run-down establishment where some patrons were sipping elegant cocktails or sloppily throwing back beer, listening to a band play on stage. Slinking along in her sleek red dress, Nyssa made her way to the bar. Sham nodded significantly to her from across the bar and slipped into the men's room to get the device ready for deployment. Their mission was to engage the target ten minutes after the clock struck twelve.

It was always awkward, dodging sidelong glances from men who ogled at her callously like she was something to be devoured. Their intentions were too obvious. _Pathetic really..._ she thought as Nyssa found an empty spot at the bar.

_"As you stand_  
 _Under the bar lights_  
 _And the band plays some song about forgetting yourself for a while_  
 _And the piano's this melancholy soundtrack to her smile_  
 _And that white dress she's wearing, you haven't seen her_  
 _For a while._

_"But you know_  
 _That she's watching_  
 _She's laughing, she's turning_  
 _She's holding her tonic like a cross_  
 _The room suddenly spinning, she walks up and asks how you are_  
 _So you can smell her perfume_  
 _You can see her lying naked in your arms"_

She spoke loudly over the music, giving the bartender her drink order. He nodded, smiling, and went to go mix her a gin & tonic. He placed a napkin under the glass and handed her the drink as she handed him some money, mouthing, 'keep the change' with a half smile.

Turning to face the bulk of the crowd, Nyssa let the sounds of the music keep her occupied while Sham set up his portion of the ruse behind the scenes. She watched the musicians in the smoky light, and her eyes alighted on the female violinist, who plucked carefree at the bridge with her fingers while her band mates strummed their guitars. Nyssa put back some of the gin and motioned for another drink, as a haunting piano harmony carried the song to an almost transcendental place. Her eyes affixed to the keys and her hands automatically moved more gin to her mouth. It smoothly burned down her throat. Nyssa drank in the music, momentarily closing her eyes.

When she opened them, her gaze shifted due to movement out of the corner of her eye. Thinking it was the signal to act, she turned to face the person she thought was Sham. Instead, her knuckles went white as she clutched her glass of gin.

A blonde woman, about five foot six inches, was deftly maneuvering through the crowd. Her hair almost glowed in the stage lights, and she wore a beautiful knee length white dress. The back of the dress was open around the shoulder blades, and a simple lacing pattern shaped the fabric around the woman's slender figure. Nyssa stood, transfixed, and her mind wiped itself of all other thoughts except for one.

_Sara?_

The woman moved to a small group of what Nyssa presumed to be acquaintances, close to the stage, and Nyssa's eyes followed each of her movements. One of the woman's friends, a tall man with brown hair and a scraggly beard, handed her a glass and the woman smiled appreciatively, dimples marking her sun-kissed face. The woman leaned up and kissed the man on the cheek. Nyssa felt sick.

_It couldn't be her beloved Sara, her Ta-er al Sa-fer...the same gorgeous Sara who spent countless nights curled in their bed, limbs care-freely wrapped into limbs... the heat of their bodies warming both their damaged souls... their embrace... caressing lips._

Nyssa's body reacted without her consent, and she downed her gin as her inner thighs and hips vibrated with the dull ache of memory.

Before she knew it, the blonde was next to her at the bar. Nyssa looked at her, not really breaking eye contact, until finally the woman brushed past Nyssa and apologized. "Oh sorry!" she stammered giddily, flashing a smile at Nyssa before ordering her drink.

_"So there's a change_  
 _In your emotions_  
 _And all of these memories come rushing like feral waves to your mind_  
 _Of the curl of your bodies, like two perfect circles entwined_  
 _And you feel hopeless, and homeless, and lost in the haze of the wine."_  
  
 _"Then she leaves_  
 _With someone you don't know_  
 _But she makes sure you saw her, she looks right at you and bolts_  
 _As she walks out the door_  
 _Your blood boiling, your stomach in ropes_  
 _And then your friends say "What is it? You look like you've seen a ghost.""_

Nyssa reeled from the influx of sensory memory... she shivered recalling her and Sara sweating and clutching each other in throes of ecstasy, _their bodies moving together so well..._ the blonde woman's brief touch ignited Nyssa's skin. Nyssa didn't utter a response to the woman; she just nodded and finished her drink. The alcohol was making her usual sharp mind foggy and she felt like things weren't making much sense. There was no way this woman was her Sara... Sara had left Nanda Parbat over two months ago, without so much as a note left for Nyssa. Her heart hurt thinking about it. Nyssa rubbed her temples and brushed her hand through her dark hair, trying to move away the painful memories. 

Instead of abating, they gripped her body fully and threw her into a dark place. She wanted to destroy someone to unleash the boiling rage that festered in her stomach.

Sham tapped her on the shoulder, looking flustered. "What the 'ell, Nyssa? We were supposed to engage fifteen minutes ago..." his voice dropped to a whisper so others couldn't hear them. He took a good look at her and muttered, "Geez, how compromised are you? This is your first mission since... well, you know. Your father expects results." She jerked away from him, vaguely hearing his calls after her as she made her way out of the bar. She felt blind from the rawness of the heartache that wouldn't relinquish her insides.

_"And you walk_  
 _Under the streetlights_  
 _And you're too drunk to notice that everyone's staring at you_  
 _You don't care what you look like_  
 _The world is falling around you"_  
  
 _"You just have to see her_  
 _You just have to see her_  
 _You just have to see her_  
 _You just have to see her_  
 _You just have to see her_  
  
 _You know that she'll break you in two"_

Everything felt like a perverted dream. Nyssa stumbled outside and a scream tore from her throat. People passing by her on the sidewalk dodged around her. She made her way down the sidewalk, her feet feeling like cement and her mind spinning. She wanted to claw at her eyes, to remove the memories that followed her like apparitions down the boulevard. The streetlamps were like eerie spotlights, highlighting her major weakness, exposing her bleeding layers to those she tried desperately to shut out.

Eventually, she crumpled to the grass, tears streaming down her face. Her only thoughts were of Sara. She had all but projected her love onto that blonde stranger in the bar, in the abashed hopes that she could make Sara materialize back to her.

 _Why did she leave me?_ The thought tore through her, and she sobbed into her hands.

_Why?_

_Why?_

_Why?_

_She told me that she loved me more than anyone, that she wanted to create a life together. I need her... I love her._

_Why is she gone?_

Devastation slowly turned to emptiness as Nyssa pleaded with the stars above her.

She wanted nothing more than to forsake all of her obligations to find Sara, to _exist_ with her.

To simply be.

The echoes weren't enough... Nyssa hardened all of her emotions and decided then that no matter what it took, she would be with Sara again. _I have to see her..._ she begged the heavens. Even if she had to forsake her honor in the League and follow Sara around the world, she would. Nyssa knew that she was running in circles in some forsaken half-life being alone, without the woman she loved.

The response flew along the wind.

_You know that she'll break you in two..._

 

 


End file.
